Vice President and Housing Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chair Noli de Castro and National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Federico Laxa led relief operations for victims of the recent tropical storm “Ondoy.” They have, so far, distributed relief goods to some 10,000 affected families in 15 NHA project sites in the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna.
The National Housing Authority (NHA) set up a Relief Operations Center at the ground floor lobby of the NHA main building in Diliman, Quezon City where donations are accepted and repacked by employees and volunteers before they are transported by the truckloads to affected project sites.
In a report prepared by the NHA Office of the Assistant General Manager dated October 1, a total of 68,522 families in 58 project sites in the National Capital Region, Northern and Central Luzon and Southern Luzon and Bicol Regions were affected by Ondoy. Housing units damaged reached 6,944 of which, 6,911 were partially damaged while 33 were totally damaged. Estimated cost of damage to housing units was placed at P11.94 million. Damage to infrastructure in NHA projects reached P33.9 million.
Among the donors of the NHA relief operations center were the following: Ateneo High School Class ’68, Sterling Agritech Corp, World Step Footwear, San Miguel Food Corp., EA Ramirez Construction, Inc., Phoenix Sun International Corporation, RII Builders, Geospecialits Inc., Phi Sigma, Mojar Construction, ABS-CBN Foundation, Fel-Gene Construction, J Bros, MY Reyes Builders, Compact Builders Inc., Office of the Vice President, HDMF staff, Engr, Leuterio, NHA Cagayan de Oro Regional Office and Daisy Lizardo and family.
Donated items included used clothings, blankets, slippers, utility pails, canned goods, biscuits, sacks of rice, noodles, boiled eggs, bottled water, Coke Zero, powdered juice, toothpaste, dishwashing paste and other goods. There were also cash donations of over P20,000.00.
Distribution of relief goods were conducted in Lupang Katuparan, Muntinlupa City; Tatalon, Quezon City; Karangalan Village, Pasig City; Kasiglahan Village, Montalban, Rizal; San Pedro, Sta. Rosa and Cabuyao, Laguna, Northville and Southville projects, Pabahay 2000, Bulacan; DAMANAVA; Taytay, Rizal, Balubad Nangka, Marikina; GMA, Bulihan, and Silang, Cavite; and Summerville, Taguig City.
Meanwhile, also affected were 338 NHA regular employees, 27 emergency hirees and 24 other individuals from Cleansmart, Blue Guards, PFAI and EMPC. Most of the employees resided in Pasig, Marikina, Cainta, Bulacan, Pampanga, Laguna and nearby localities.
The affected employees were granted a special emergency leave of up to five days (not deductible from their leave credits) to undertake repair and clean up of their houses. The special emergency leave was one of the measures undertaken by the Civil Service Commission through MC No. 22 series of 2009 to help government employees in calamity stricken areas.
